He called on Americans to separate politics from the virus and embrace mask-wearing.
“We could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. Not Democratic or Republican lives, American lives,” Biden said. “Please, I implore you, wear a mask.”
The advisory board that Biden announced on Monday (US time) includes doctors and scientists who have served in previous administrations, many of them experts in public health, vaccines and infectious disease.
It will be led by former Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Yale University public health care expert Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith.
Former Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy with former US president Barack Obama.Credit:Getty
Rick Bright, a vaccine expert and former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, is also on the board. He had filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was reassigned to a lesser job because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug pushed by Trump as a COVID-19 treatment.
Other members include Dr Luciana Borio, who had senior leadership positions at the FDA and National Security Council during the Obama and Trump administrations; Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, who served as a special adviser for health policy in the Obama administration; Dr Atul Gawande, a senior adviser in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration and medical writer; and Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who served as an adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson during the George W. Bush administration.
Public health officials warn that the nation could be entering the worst stretch yet for COVID-19 as winter sets in and the holiday season approaches, increasing the risk of rapid transmission as Americans travel, shop and celebrate with loved ones.
AP
